One of the difficulties of pouring fluid from a container, such as a can or a bottle, into a relatively small opening is that much of the fluid is spilled or lost while "aiming" the flowing contents into the small-diameter opening. This is particularly true of the oil filler tubes for motor oil in an automobile where a quart of motor oil must be emptied from the bottle or can into a tube of approximately 1 inch in diameter. Much spilling and wastage occurs, and many attempts have been made to solve the problem.
As is well-known, a tubular extension or spout is often used by gasoline-station attendants for the dispensing of can-packaged motor oil. This spout has a sharp, pointed end which penetrates the can and provides an elongated, small-diameter pouring tube, which is easily aimed at and inserted into the upper-end of the oil-filler tube on the automobile.
More recently automobile engine oil has been package in bottles having an elongated neck which fits into the filler-tube. This elongated neck is usually much shorter than the above-mentioned spout for can-type packaging.
In each case, however, the container has to be opened while in an upright position, and then inverted quickly and with great dexterity so that the oil pours from the spout into the filler-tube and not on the outside thereof.
Several attempts have been made to solve this problem; notably the dispensing cap disclosed in Bowman U.S. Pat. No. 2,701,078 which was granted on Feb. 1, 1955. This mechanical device has a latch-type arrangement which is a part of the dispensing cap and which, with a spring-loaded finger to engage the upper-end of the oil tube to provide an opening in the dispensing cap after it has been inserted into the filler tube. This mechanical device is fairly complicated and expensive and must be placed on the fluid container prior to use and removed after the contents have been dispensed. Nevertheless, this is probably the only dispenser in the prior art which enables the container to be opened while handling an inverted fluid container at its upper end.
The Cummings U.S. Pat. No. 4,423,819 issued on Jan. 3, 1984 illustrates a closer for a fluid container, such as a bottle for intravenous fluid or liquid for medical purposes. However, in this instance, a dispensing spout of the inverted container is available for manual manipulation after being inverted because the spout does not reside within a narrow tube of the receiving container.
Pollacco U.S. Pat. No. 4,524,866 shows how the contents of a fluid container can be removed, but in this invention the receiving container must have a puncture device operable beneath the dispensing unit, an arrangement not possible when adding oil to an automobile engine.
The present invention is particularly directed to a flexible seal of a type similar to that which often appears as the safety, tamper-evident secondary closure on medicine bottles, milk bottles, and other fluid containers. This type of tamper-evident seal is illustrated in Elias U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,126 issued June 24, 1980; Corbic U.S. Pat. 4,131,211 issued Dec. 26, 1978; Willhaus U.S. Pat. No. 3,655,084 issued April 11, 1972; Blakslee U.S. Pat. No. 3,163,310 issued Dec. 29, 1964 and Clark U.S. Pat. No. 1,473,280 issued Nov. 6, 1923.
However, in all of the patents just referred to above, removal of the tamper-evident seal or opening the container must be done while the bottle or container is in an upright position, or else the fluid or the contents will be uncontrollably discharged.
The prior art all fails, however, to teach how the container may be opened after the neck of the container is inserted into a narrow, pipe-like tube, while the container is inverted and held above the tube into which the contents are to be poured.